Tough Love
by Armored Rider Baron
Summary: As the toughest girl in her high school, Reina Ryuuzaki doesn't have a lot of room for guys in her life. However, a chance meeting with the strangely average Tanaka, her life begins to in many ways. Based on Shinobi's 4-koma manga "Yandere Kanojo".


"Why are ya helping me?" "Hmm?" "I said, why are ya helping me?"

He looked back at her quizzically before going back to her wounds. "You were injured, and it likely would've gotten worse had I not been here." Reina sighed, frustrated that her point wasn't getting through this guy's head. "Are you stupid? I've hurt people way worse than this." As he continued wrapping gauze around her arm, the boy gave her a gentle smile. "Maybe, but that doesn't mean I can just let someone injured suffer. Regardless of who they are."

She stared at him incredulously, trying to understand why this strange guy was going out of his way for the most violent person at their school. Everyone that knew her stayed away out of fear or self-preservation. They knew that crossing her path meant certain doom. Despite that, this seemingly normal guy had no trouble looking her in the eyes and smiling at her. It pissed her off for some reason, so once he finished wrapping the gauze she pulled her arm away from his hands with a "Tch." The boy's face didn't display any sadness at her gesture if there was any. Rather, no emotion seemed to be conveyed in his deep black eyes.

He got up from his chair next to the bed she was occupying and placed the extra gauze back into the nurses' cabinet, then sat back down and put his now empty hands onto his knees. She turned away to look out the window, trying to find something to do that didn't involve the glasses-wearing weirdo sitting next to her. The moon was out in full tonight and lit up the sky in pale blue light. Silence fell onto the two teens, and for a few minutes, no words were exchanged.

Finally, the boy spoke up. "If I may ask, how did you get those injuries?" Reina sat staring out the window in contempt for a minute or two before replying, "Got in a fight. Bastards got the jump on me. Nothing new." The boy took in her words for a moment, then asked "Nothing new? Do you get injured like this a lot?" She whirled around and gave him a fiery glare before spitting "It ain't yer fuckin business." He simply put his hands up in defeat. "Fair enough."

The brunette-haired girl turned back around in a huff and went back to staring out the window. Another few moments of silence passed until eventually, she looked back at him. "Why are you still here?" she questioned. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You're not one of those creepos that likes staring at girls are ya?" She expected some sort of reaction out of him at her questioning, but he simply replied "Nope.", then went back to looking at her.

That only served to piss her off even further. "So then why the hell are sitting there staring at me!?" He gave her another gentle smile and stated, matter-of-factly, "Well, I can't exactly leave you here by yourself, can I?" Reina huffed once more and looked away, anything to stop seeing his stupidly average face. She peered again out to the night sky and tried to occupy her time staring off into space.

"Oh." She snapped her out of her thoughts and turned back to him. "I just realized, I never told you my name." He got up out of his chair and stuck out his hand. "My name's Tanaka Manabu, good to meet you." She started getting angry again but decided it wasn't worth it and with a sigh shook his hand. "Reina Ryuuzaki." Tanaka smiled again and said "Reina. That's a nice name."

She pulled away from him immediately after the handshake, then decided to ask, "So how long do I hafta sit here and have you stare at me?" The black-eyed boy chuckled a bit at her remark. "I suppose that's up to your body to decide." Once he told her that, she decided to test whether her legs were good to walk and moved them off the bed onto the tough floor of the Nurse's office. She tentatively put her feet down and pushed off the bed, wobbling a little bit but regaining her balance quickly. Taking a few steps, she decided that she was probably healed enough to at least make the walk home.

"Well, looks like you're free to go Miss Ryuuzaki." Tanaka said happily. Reina eyed him with a glare. "Why do ya sound so happy bout that? You that anxious to get ridda me?" He waved his hand in front of him, speaking reassuringly "No, nothing like that. I'm just happy that your injuries didn't cause too serious damage." She gawked at him like he was an alien, then said "Whatever" before walking out of the room.

Once she got to the front gate of her high school, she realized that it was still open, even though classes had ended many hours ago. "Weird, but at least I won't hafta hop the gate with these busted-up legs," she thought to herself. When she was a ways down the street, however, she heard the clanging of the gate shutting, and saw Tanaka shut the gate and lock it, then start walking down the same street she was on.

Not wanting to talk with him further, she started back down the street and did her best not to look back at him. This proved to be a difficult task, however, and she eventually gave up and yelled "Why are ya following me around?! I'm not a kid!" Tanaka seemed to snap out of a daze, then held up his hand in greeting before replying "Oh, hey. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you or anything." She started getting pissed off again and replied "You didn't answer my question. Why are ya following me?!" He walked up a bit further, so they were standing side by side. "Well, it's just that my house is also this way, so I was just walking back. But I saw you were also going this way, and I knew that you probably didn't want to talk anymore so I stayed back."

The brunette sighed in frustration and resigned herself to walking with him for now. The two continued in silence for a few miles. Once they got to a corner, Tanaka pointed down the opposite road from where Reina was going and said, "My house is down this road, so I guess this is where we part." He waved his hand at her one last time before he went off down the road. Reina merely scoffed at him and went off her own way.

Finally getting back to her house, she pulled her keys out of her skirt pocket and entered into a darkened house. "Great, Dad's still at his lectures" she thought. She knew that he wouldn't have asked why she was so injured even if he was here, but she still didn't like the look he gave her whenever she walked in after a fight. It was a look of sadness and pity, and she hated being looked at like she was weak and needed protecting. Weirdly though, Tanaka hadn't looked at her like that the entire time he was with her. He didn't even give the typical lecture she'd get from most adults.

 _Violence isn't the answer. You should know better than this. Why are you so stupid?_

None of that. He just… carried on with that plain face and blank look in his eyes while giving her a gentle smile. Reina wasn't quite sure how to feel about it all, so she decided to stop thinking about it and stripped off her blood-stained school uniform before throwing on a pajama shirt and pants. She threw the uniform into her laundry basket and plopped down on her bed, relishing how comfy it was compared to that of the stiff bed of the nurse's office. Gazing up at her blank ceiling, her mind once again drifted to the boy from earlier. She said aloud "Tanaka Manabu." She soon began to fall asleep and she gave a small yawn before getting comfortable. "What a fuckin' weirdo."


End file.
